Original Data from Ronald B. Mitchell. 2002-2020. International Environmental Agreements Database Project (Version 2020.1). Available at: http://iea.uoregon.edu/

Data used for visualization

Agreements were ratified in the same year they were signed

Agreements never got ratified

Years taken, on average, from signature to ratification

Change in number of agreements 1857 - 2016

Consent to be bound

Regular update needed

Abtract

Initiated in 2002, the International Environmental Agreements Data Base (IEADB) cata- logs the texts, memberships, and design features of over 3,000 multilateral and bilateral environmental agreements. Using IEADB data, we create a comprehensive review of the evolution of international environmental law, including how the number, subjects, and state memberships in IEAs have changed over time. By providing IEA texts, the IEADB helps scholars identify and systematically code IEA design features. We review scholar- ship derived from the IEADB on international environmental governance, including insights into IEA membership, formation, and design as well as the deeper structure of international environmental law. We note the IEADB’s value as a teaching tool to pro- mote undergraduate and graduate teaching and research. The IEADB’s structure and con- tent opens up both broad research realms and specific research questions, and facilitates the ability of scholars to use the IEADB to answer those questions of greatest interest to them.

Source: What We Know (and Could Know) About International Environmental Agreements Authors: Ronald B. Mitchell, Liliana B. Andonova, Mark Axelrod, Jörg Balsiger, Thomas Bernauer, Jessica F. Green, James Hollway, Rakhyun E. Kim, and Jean-Frédéric Mori Source: Global Environmental Politics 20:1, February 2020, https://doi.org/10.1162/glep_a_00544)

Top 15 lineages collectively account for about one-third of the total Multilateral Evironmental Agreements

A lineages is defined as a set “of agreements, protocols, and amendments that modify, extend, replace, or explicitly derive from one or more original agreements (Mitchell 2003, 432).” Source: Mitchell, Ronald B. 2003. International Environmental Agreements: A Survey of Their Fea- tures, Formation, and Effects. Annual Review of Environment and Resources 28: 429–461.

Change in type of agreements over time

Agreements have become increasingly diverse in the subjects address overtime